


There Is A Place (Of Peace And Spring)

by mihrsuri



Category: Emelan - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Background Poly, Character(s) of Color, Families of Choice, Family Feels, Food, Friendship, Gardens & Gardening, Jewish Holidays, Multi, OT3, Purim, Slice of Life, jewish character(s) of color
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:28:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27524617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mihrsuri/pseuds/mihrsuri
Summary: She always feels something in her uncurl in the spring, a tree growing new leaves after the winters sleep and it is always good. She had wanted this, after everything that had happened - had wanted to be able to find her roots again in the world and here, with her lovers and her children sleeping in their home she can. She can be, sharp edges and all.  Or Rosethorn and the family she has built around her celebrate Niko's favourite holiday.
Relationships: Dedicate Lark/Dedicate Rosethorn, Niklaren Goldeye/Dedicate Rosethorn/Dedicate Lark
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	There Is A Place (Of Peace And Spring)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stifledlaughter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stifledlaughter/gifts).



> Thank you so much to my recipient for giving me the opportunity to write something so soothing <3\. Also to my friends, especially my friend [redacted] who provided a whole lot of cheerleading. The title is inspired by listening to a lot of songs by Maureen Nehedar (a Persian Jewish musician)

Rosethorn looks at Niko, still asleep in their bed, Lark curled around him like a cat and smiles as she presses a kiss to both of her loves - a softness she only allows around a very few (she’s never felt the world has had a right to her heart, not in that way) and slips out to tend to the garden in the early light. She likes these moments when there is nothing but green things and birds and the view across the gardens of Winding Circle and she can enquire after the health of the plants, whether they need to be moved or pruned or perhaps that she needs to adjust their water. It is early spring, which means that the tentative new growth has to be watched, means that new things can be planted and the last of the winters harvest gathered, as well as turning the soil over for the new plantings - Rosethorn has set a spell for this, to tell her if there is a problem in any of the seedlings but she also checks them herself. 

Some of them are still in their small pots in her workshop and she carefully feeds them to make sure they are all growing well and breathes in deeply. She always feels something in her uncurl in the spring, a tree growing new leaves after the winter's sleep and it is always good. She had wanted this, after everything that had happened - had wanted to be able to find her roots again in the world and here, with her lovers and her children sleeping in their home Rosethorn feels she has found them, however strangely it might be. She can be, sharp edges and all. 

It is a good morning. 

Lark has already made tea and greets Rosethorn with a smile as she hands her a cup - it’s the spring blend that Briar created himself and it’s Rosethorns not so secret favourite. 

“The children are still asleep but I thought we could ask Gorse for pastries - he had some he wanted to make specially for Niko because our wanderer is here for Purim for once.” 

Rosethorn can hear the gladness in Larks voice and she feels it herself - there is peace in this early morning with just the two of them and the sounds of Winding Circle waking up. 

"How is the great tapestry adventure then? Surely it can't be that the weavers have suddenly become sensible? Even with your sweetness love, they have been bad enough"

Lark makes a half sound of protest but doesn't deny it - she had been working on a series of magical tapestries that would adorn homes and public spaces with the local Summersea Guild. In return for the magic that Lark would imbue for health, protection and prosperity she would be able to study with seamstresses from all across the Pebbled Sea and at least half the tapestries would be given to those who would need them the most. 

"It's true that many of them were stubborn Rosie but that's not true of all of them - why just yesterday we agreed upon a thread colour without any arguments at all, even if it did come from a mere former inhabitant of the Mire" 

She smiles and Rosethorn smirks to herself because she loves it when people underestimate Lark just because she is gentle and kind and has a kind of magic that the world might dismiss as merely stitching. 

"And now you are commissioned by a Duke to make magic in your thread" 

"Well I do have an advantage - his niece is our daughter after all" 

Lark sounds joking but here and now she is sure of her skills and it delights Rosethorn to see her now, happy in a home that will not be taken from either of them. And more than that a family - a strange one perhaps, made by magic and by Niko but it is a strong family and a good one. Sometimes, sometimes in her sentimental moments she thinks that they all would have found each other - magic or no they were meant to build this together. It was meant to be. 

"You know I don't like children" Rosethorn bends to kiss Lark. "But I like our children. I love them. Just don't let anyone know." 

"I wouldn't dream of it - after all I can't have your fearsome reputation lowered. Then I might lose you to a romantically minded novice who gives you roses and writes poems to your smile." 

Rosethorn snorts. 

"More likely Crane decides he can be even more arrogant at me." 

"Love, if Crane wasn't arrogant you'd decide he'd been replaced by an imposter and I think both of you would be in despair at the very idea." 

(If there was one thing that Rosethorn had learned it was that Crane might be arrogant and superior but once you started to unravel that it was extremely satisfying for both of them). 

"Well then, why don't you tell me about how you managed to one up Crane in the matter of those juniper berries and making sure they have the right balance of soil" 

They talk about junipers and the annoyance of Crane's insistence that it doesn't matter if the grape vines say they should be planted on one side of Winding Circle, he can make them grow out of position until the rest of the household begins to wake up. 

-

Sandry is the first to awaken and comes to a kitchen containing a delighted Niklaren Goldeye eyeing a plate piled high with almond and walnut filled pastries dipped in sugar. 

“Oh, Ghotab! I remember Pirisi bought me those when we were in Shushan - I know you can find them in Summersea but I’ve never seen them really.” 

Niko looked at her with a smile. 

“They are almost my favourite, but in truth I love hamantaschen most of all - I’ve promised Dedicate Gorse the recipe for years but never managed to be here for Purim, I suppose now I should give it to him.” 

“Niko here is from Shushan” Lark is smiling as she hands him and Rosethorn tea. “That and he’s always been of the People of Esther- we just haven’t had a chance to celebrate together until now” 

“It has been an eventful year or so at that - but yes, this time I will be here my dear.”

“Even in costume” 

“Rosie!” Lark says but there is laughter in her voice and Niko’s eyes dance with delight and he says that yes, he cannot see why he would not. 

-

The rest of the day is spent in preparation - though Briar reported that Gorse had insisted on doing most of the cooking for the feast they would have that night, Niko had volunteered to help them make hamantaschen and so they worked together - Triss using her breezes to move ingredients, Daja making sure they were cooked evenly, the nuts and rosewater coming from Rosethorn and Briars garden. 

It’s from all of us, Sandry thinks with a smile. Because we are a family and this is how it should be - all of us woven together to make a better whole. 

“We’d make these with apricots - I remember when I was very young I ate a whole plate of them. And then we’d have oh, spice cakes and sweet tea” 

Daja says this almost hesitantly and there is sadness in her eyes but there is the warmth of a treasured memory alongside it all. 

“When I was travelling with the Trader Caravan they made them with poppy seeds and we would eat them for breakfast” 

That was Lark, as she helped shape the dough into triangles. 

“Don’t look at me” Tris shrugged “I was never allowed near the quarter to try any of the food” 

“We never did steal from them but a woman did give me a whole box once when I was a little kid” 

Briar gave a grin. “I lost half of them to some of the older kids but I still got some. They were good” 

Rosethorn ducks her head to hide her smile. 

-

It’s Lark and Sandry who end up making up the costumes - Briar says he will be Pilyan who he’d seen in a play this past winter who is an ambient plant mage who makes mischief and Sandry admits it fits him - all twining vines and roses against green clothes. Sandry herself dresses as a long ago Duchess of Emelan who had been known for her goodness who had saved her people through a magical tapestry and her wits, while Daja says she will go as a Trader Hero. 

Lark smiles and says she will be an acrobat for one night, Frostpine as a legendary king from another play they had seen in Summersea and Rosethorn finds herself dressed as a lady of the rose thorns as Niko crowns her with a smile on his face. 

Triss surprises herself and says that she wants to be a snow maiden and ends up telling the story that she comes from, a story that the servants had taught her in one of the houses she had briefly lived in. It still warms her that she has a family who will listen to her with joy. 

-

“There would be a play - it tells the story of Esther who became Empress Of Shushan and saved our people with her bravery and kindness and so let us keep our faith. And then of course, you must jeer at Haman” 

“Don’t forget the terrible hat” 

“I would never forget that for the world Daja - it’s why hamantaschen are shaped the way they are - so we might remember that our adversary is hateful and has terrible terrible taste on top of that” 

Niko, who is dressed as one of the mages who had defended the quarters in Shushan laughs again, as he has done several times today. 

They walk along the path to the kitchens together and stagger back under the weight of all the food. When they set it out they have rice studded with berries and nuts, chickpea and chicken dumplings in a soup, lamb stew and vegetables and a great plate of sweets. 

“Next year we can go into the city and join one of the parties there, if you would all like that? There are masks and dancing and plays all through the night, especially since Duke Vedris has opened the city to the people” 

Niko offers it up almost shyly but they all accept with delight. 

After the food is all eaten and they are sitting around the table chatting and drinking tea Lark goes into her workroom and comes back with a covered basket. 

"There is one more thing - I know you always said this was your favourite part Niko so I thought we might have gifts" 

She lifts off the basket lid to reveal eight boxes, each carefully labelled with a name. They prove to contain sweet grape juice, dried fruit and nuts, sweets, walnut cookies and some of the hamantaschen that they have made together. 

"So that we can all feel we gave each other a gift" 

Surprisingly it is Niko who produces beautifully painted masks for each of them after that ("It's another hobby of mine and they can be used for next year") that echo each of their magics and then Frostpine gives everyone a beautiful chocolate coin that has been cunningly wrapped in gold as well as metal rattles. 

"Daja told me the story and I thought it was a good one - more people should be able to cause chaos for bad rulers in my book" 

"Daja should never should have told him about it - now I'll never hear the end of it and no doubt he'll be handing them out to every child in Summersea" 

"I'll be performing a service and bringing joy, Dedicate Rosethorn" Frostpine says with a grin on his face that leaves no doubt that he will be doing just that. 

"Just know that if Moonstream gets complaints I am unashamedly blaming you for everything" 

The children try to hide their grins but find that they cannot and their teachers aren't even attempting to look serious at this point - after all Purim is for joy. For survival. For a people who have kept their bonds of family, of love and faith despite everything. It feels right for the inhabitants of Discipline Cottage who have worked so hard to build this home of theirs. 

It's late - after talking and sewing together and attempting to go to bed when they all decide that none of them can sleep after all and find themselves taking a cart down to Summersea and the Quarter proper - it's filled with lights, with people dancing and drinking and eating - everyone in costume. Everyone is delighted to welcome them into the dance as much as they wish - though Tris is happy to sit at one of the tables outside an eating house with an excited Little Bear the others dance until they are breathless with it (and if there is a cooling breeze that runs through the dancers then no one will comment on it - the tales of the four young mages have spread through Summersea and they have far more goodwill than any of them know). Rosethorn spins Lark with delight - watching her love dance with their Niko's mask twinkling in the lights and the rest of their family around them is perhaps the most beautiful thing in the world. 

It is a good day. It is a good home we have made, Rosethorn thinks as she kisses Lark and Niko goodnight.

**Author's Note:**

> -Shushan is one of the historical names for a city in Ancient Persia that is specifically mentioned in the Book Of Esther.  
> -The hamantaschen flavours mentioned are all from actual recipes, as is the food mentioned in the end and the pastries in the beginning (they are amazing).  
> -I was trying to picture the specific kind of tea blend that Briar might have made for Rosethorn and I can't quite but it's delicious and definitely does contain rose petals!


End file.
